The Informant
by samowu
Summary: Harry's top informant tells him a dark wizard is rising up, claiming to be the Dark Lord incarnate.  Its up to Teddy and Harry to stop this new Dark Wizard and maintain peace.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters (at least all the good ones) belong to JK Rowling. This is the mere scraps from her table.

A/N: I was inspired by a scene in DH. Harry sees Draco, and Draco gives him kind of a curt nod. What if this nod meant something more? A sign or a signal for a meeting. The rest flowed out from there. Chapters 1 and 2 finished, rest are underway. Happy hunting!

Chapter 1: Meetings

Not for the first time in his life, Harry Potter was questioning his choice of a career. It was two days before Christmas, and his entire extended family was gathered at Godric's Hollow celebrating. Yet here he was in an abandoned Muggle warehouse with his godson Teddy, waiting to meet one of his least favorite people in the world, Draco Malfoy. Further, due to the need to keep this meeting a secret, Harry had to lie to his own family, an art to which he had become far more skilled than he felt comfortable with.

"Did he give a reason as to why he wanted to meet us here?" Teddy asked him. "Usually he's just content to drop us a message in the usual way. I'm not too sure how good I feel about a face to face meeting."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Harry said, though in reality he shared the concern. Malfoy had cooperated with them for years now, but rarely happily and Harry often felt Malfoy was holding back information. The fact that Malfoy had specifically requested they meet in person meant that he had something significant. Suddenly, both men heard a pop and Malfoy appeared beside them.

Casting a suspicious look upon Teddy, Malfoy said, "What is he doing here, Potter? I specifically remember asking to meet you, and you alone."

"And I specifically remember telling you, Malfoy, that Teddy would be coming along to all our little meetings in the future. It's not safe anymore to limit the information flow to just me. If something happens to me, I need someone else who knows what is gohappening to carry on the work. Besides that, I trust Teddy with my life."

"Really says something about your department Potter, that your most trusted man is the son of a werewolf."

Teddy reached for his wand, but Harry held him back. "Come on Malfoy, we don't have all day here. Why don't you tell us what you want so we can all get out of here."

Malfoy smirked. "You should start appreciating me more Potter. I'm risking a lot by helping you. And besides, what I've got to tell you, you'll want to hear. Does your office have a file on a wizard named Andrew Hayden?"

"I can't say the name rings a bell."

"I suspected it wouldn't. He's been keeping a pretty low profile. By now his name is fairly well known among former Death Eaters and their children, but he hasn't done much to merit any attention by the ministry."

"So what's so special about this guy?" Teddy asked. "Our entire job is tracking dark wizards. Why should we focus on this guy who hasn't even done anything yet?"

"I didn't say he hadn't done anything, I said that he hadn't done anything to raise the attention of the Ministry. Do you remember that witch out in Yorkshire who got kidnapped, Julia Cochran?"

"Yes," Harry said. "Do you remember that we already brought Macnair in for that? He confessed to the kidnapping and later killing her. Life sentence in Azkaban, as you well know."

"It's the truth, about the kidnapping," Malfoy said, "but not about the killing. Hayden was responsible for that one. One of the most brutal murders I've ever seen."

"You saw it personally?"

"We all did. That was the point, Potter. It was a demonstration."

"A demonstration of what exactly?"

"A demonstration of his power. He wanted to show that he had power beyond that of an average wizard. Because that's the point. He doesn't consider himself a normal wizard. He was born on a day I think you're very familiar with. May 2, 1998."

"The Battle of Hogwarts…"

"The pivotal point in our history," Draco said. "It means a lot of things to a lot of people. To you it was the day of a major battle. To the junior wolf over there, it was the day he became an orphan. But most importantly to most Death Eaters, it was the day the Dark Lord died."

"So what does this Hayden have to do with any of that?" Harry asked. I know the Battle of Hogwarts as well as anyone, I know the names of every person who was there, every single person that died. No one with the name Hayden was there."

"Potter, how you've managed to make it so far in society despite being so thick disturbs me. You're missing the point entirely. It has nothing to do with the Battle of Hogwarts, and everything to do with the Dark Lord dying. Because he was born on the day that Voldemort died, he's declaring himself the Dark Lord reincarnated."

Both Harry and Teddy stared at him blankly. Teddy spoke what they were both thinking.  
"That is possibly the most absurd thing I have ever heard."

"Of course it's absurd," Draco said scornfully, "but it plays on the wishes and fears of so many people. For over two decades now, there's been a power vacuum among Death Eaters. They need a leader to rally around. Hayden provides them with that leader, whether they believe his story or not."

"But I would think," Harry said, "that a key to gaining power by claiming Voldemort's identity is to instill fear in the public. He can do some damage with his Death Eaters, but realistically he should know our department will catch up to him."

"Why are you so certain people won't buy his story?"

"Because hundreds of people watched him die," Harry said. "There were witnesses that all saw what happened."

"Potter, I was one of those witnesses and I can't even tell you what happened," Draco said. "Here's what your observers saw. They watched you come back from playing dead, argue with the Dark Lord, then attempt a disarming spell while he attempted a killing spell. Then he dropped, and everyone called you the hero of the day."

"I can testify that he's dead though. I know what was keeping him alive, and…"

"Exactly," Draco said. "You know that he's dead, you know what was keeping him alive. You and Weasley and Granger. But no one else does. Every time someone asked you why the Dark Lord was coming back, you clammed up. Even when you finally started telling stories about the second war, no information. No one knows where you were that entire year before the Dark Lord went down, no one knows why you broke into Gringotts. So here's how the world sees it. You tell them that everything is fine, and that the Dark Lord is dead, and they are more than happy to believe you because they want it to be true. But scratch at the surface of that and see what happens. If someone claims that the Dark Lord is back, people are going to start taking notice. Add to that all the business going around back then about pieces of Voldemort's soul being loose, and it all adds up to danger. Your average person is going to start panicking. When it comes down to it, even your brother in law isn't going to want to turn into the next Cornelius Fudge.

Harry looked at him and considered what he was saying. He knew Draco was right about this, that someone claiming to be Voldemort could cause a lot of damage. "Do you have any more information about this Hayden?"

"At the moment, no. He's keeping a low profile. Even among Death Eaters, he's staying pretty quiet. That murder was really the first time he's shown himself. I'll keep my ear to the ground though, and let you know what else I hear." With that, Malfoy Disapparated.

Teddy turned to Harry. They looked at each other, not really needing to express what they were both thinking. "Should we just return to Godric's Hollow?"

"You go on ahead," Harry said. "Jenkins is watching the Auror's office for tonight. I'm going to stop by and tell him to open up a file on Hayden. Just some basic research for now, where he comes from, get some people watching him soon to see what Death Eaters he's associating with. We'll start hitting the case full on the day after Christmas."


	2. Lovers Apart

Chapter 2: Lovers Apart

_Dear Scorpius,_

_I can't write long, my whole family is at the Burrow for Christmas. __I love my family, I really do, but I can't wait to get back to Hogwarts. __I miss you terribly. __ I hope Christmas with your family is going well, I know how much you were dreading seeing them all. __I wish I could write more, but I hear someone coming up the stairs now. __I'll see you in just a few weeks!_

_Love,  
Rose_

Rose Weasley finished up her letter and hurriedly stuffed it into the non-descript envelope sitting on the desk. Suddenly her older cousin James burst into the room.

"James, have you never learned basic manners, say like knocking on the door? And look, you're dripping mud in my room?" James and most of the rest of the family had been enjoying Christmas together downstairs. Rose had excused herself briefly to use the bathroom, conveniently waiting until she knew someone else was using the downstairs room to give her a reason to go upstairs.

Grinning, James said, "First, Rose, this is not 'your room,' this isn't even your house, remember? Second, it's…" James trailed off as he stared at the envelope on the desk. "Writing to someone?" he asked.

"Just writing to Amy, you know, checking in on how her holidays are going," Rose said as she walked over and grabbed the envelope. "I was just about to go take it out to Gawain and have him deliver it."

Rose started making her way to the door, but James was standing in her way, the grin wiped off his face. Rose was unused to seeing her cousin wear such a serious expression. "Rose," James began, "I know you're lying."

Rose's face turned a shade of red brighter than her hair. "What do you mean lying? Get out of here!"

"I know you're seeing Malfoy," James said simply. Rose flew towards the door and slammed it shut.

"Please, keep your voice down!" she begged.

"So it's true," he said. "I had figured it out about a month ago, but I had been waiting to make sure. I didn't want to say anything unless I knew."

"Look, I know you all think he's horrible, and I know you probably disapprove of me dating him, but he's now how you think, he's-"

"I know," he interrupted. "I know he's not that bad. He seems like a truly decent guy. I'm not going to judge him just because in the family department he really lost out. Besides, Al's grudges are not my grudges.

Rose gaped for a moment, amazed by her cousin's maturity. "So you really don't see a problem with me dating him?"

"No, I said _I_have no problem with you dating him. When Al finds out though… And I don't even want to speculate about how your dad might react. There's a lot of bad blood between our dads and Draco Malfoy. I assume that's why you are keeping this a secret."

Rose considered this a moment. "That's definitely a part of it, at least at first. But I think if it were just Dad and Al I was worried about then we would have come forward by now. They would have been angry at first, but they would have gotten over it and understood in time, especially if they actually sat down and talked to Scorpius. But it's his family I'm worried about. What his dad might do, and possibly even worse, old Lucius Malfoy…"

James nodded at this, and then turned to head out of the room. Just before he opened the store, he stopped. "Do you love him?"

Rose was taken aback by the question. "Why do you…"

"Rose, I've know you your entire life. You're not exactly one to take risks, or to act impulsively. I don't think I have to tell you that you're risking a lot for Scorpius. Your family, his family, possibly even more given what the Malfoys are capable of doing. So what I guess I'm asking you is whether or not he's worth it."

"I do love him. And James, you and I are both Gryffindors. You take crazy risks all the time, and that makes you brave. But at the heart of Gryffindor is standing strong behind what you believe. I really believe I'm in love with Scorpius, and about this he and I are both Gryffindors."

"That you are cousin," James said. "And I know Gryffindors. We're a stubborn lot, and there's not a person who can ever tell us we're wrong." He smiled, then left the room.

* * *

Ginny Potter stood in her kitchen, preparing yet another tray of food to take out to her seemingly endless supply of guests. Turning to her mother, who was her sole accompaniment, she said, "I still will never know how you always managed this with all of us growing up."

"Oh, dear, you do a good job of it yourself," Mrs. Weasley said, putting the final touches on some Treacle Tart. "It's in your genes, looking after a large family such as ours. Besides, I never had quite so many people to deal with as you do. Remember, I had seven children to feed. Our family now is…" She looked towards the kitchen thoughtfully. "Quite a bit bigger."

Ginny considered this, then said, "You did however have to watch Fred and George."

"Well, I do think each of them should count as three children," Mrs. Weasley said with a smile. Ginny was relieved to see the smile. Her mother had finally gotten to the point where she remembered Fred and was happy, but there were still moments when she slid back into grief.

"Now I don't think that's fair," said George, who had just walked into the kitchen. "Fred and I were quite ambitious. I think we should rightly be declared as much trouble as four children." He took a piece of one of the Treacle Tarts Mrs. Weasley had just finished and popped it in his mouth, earning him a familiar glare. "Besides, Harry and Ron were always in far more trouble than us. They only get a free pass because they saved the world a few times."

"It does tend to justify the trouble," Ginny said with a smirk.

"Speaking of Harry," George said, "Do you know yet when he's supposed to get in? We're all waiting for him to eat, being the host and all, but I don't think some of the kids will wait much longer."

Ginny sighed. "I have no idea when he'll be back. Honestly, I'm not even sure where he's gone. He and Teddy just sort of disappeared, but they said they'd be back by a quarter past." Suddenly there was a crack in the room, and Teddy appeared standing right next to Mrs. Weasley, who almost dropped the Treacle Tart out of shock. Fortunately Ginny steadied the plate with her wand and put it back on the table.

Ginny looked appraisingly at her godson. "You're alone," she said, more as a statement than as a question, but her look made it clear that she expected an answer quick.

"I'm so sorry Ginny," Teddy said, clearly wishing he had Apparated into a different room. "We got called in to the office on some important business and-"

"Teddy, stop. Is this going to end with you actually telling me where you two have been?"

Teddy looked down at his feet. "Its not… you know I can't tell you that. Harry's orders."

"Yes, I've heard his speech," Ginny said. "He trusts us all, but if he told us we would all be in danger. Teddy, you've really started taking after him in the stubborn nobility department. Can you at least tell me why you're back already and he's not, or when he's going to get here?"

"I don't think you need your dear godson for that one," George interjected, pointing up at Ginny's clock, a duplicate of her mother's. Harry's hand was pointed at "Home." "It looks like he's already here."

Ginny looked out the window, and through the heavy snow she saw a dark figure slowly approaching the house. She suddenly felt both relief and annoyance, not sure whether to attack Harry or hug him. She drew out her wand just in case she decided upon the former option.

Entering the door, Harry saw Ginny and his hand quickly shifted to the pocket where he had the wand stored. Ginny gave him a cold look. "Teddy arrived a decent bit ago Harry. Why weren't you with him?"

Harry looked at her, hand still ready to draw. "Well, I figured Teddy would be safe no matter what. You'd just want to have a go at figuring out where I was. I figured I could use the extra few minutes to practice a counter-hex to the Bat-Bogey Hex." He smiled at her, and her heart melted on the spot, just as it always did when he flashed his smile at her. "After all, we both know the most important rule in the magical world."

"Constant vigilance," they said in unison, then both laughed. Harry drew Ginny in for a hug, and instantly all the anger left her. They stayed in an embrace for several moments (the rest of the family saw fit to go rejoin the party when Harry walked in), then went to go celebrate with everyone else.


	3. Back to Hogwarts

**Chapter 3- Back to Hogwarts**

"Do you see them yet?" Hugo asked, scanning Platform 9 and ¾ for their cousins. Everyone was gathering at the station to board the Hogwarts Express for the return trip to Hogwarts. As usual, Christmas break had gone far too quickly for Rose, though she was glad she would get to see Scorpius again. She scanned the platform, but saw no sign of her cousins or her boyfriend.

"No surprise, really" Rose said. "We're always the first ones here."

Hermione smiled at her daughter. "There's no shame in being prompt." Rose sighed. It wasn't easy being the daughter of one of the most notoriously organized witches in all England.

"Wait, I think I see Fred and Roxanne," Hugo said, pointing to a family of four walking onto the platform. Rose was happy to see Roxanne, one of her two best friends in the world.

"Are we really so early that no one else is here?" George asked. "Usually we're the last ones here. No holding up the works for this Weasley family today."

"It does seem pretty uncharacteristic of you," Hermione said.

"Well," Angelina said, "I've finally figured out how to get these three out the door on time."

"How?" Ron asked.

"I just told them we were supposed to be here a half an hour earlier than we were actually supposed to be!" Everyone had a good laugh at this.

As the adults continued to chat away, Roxanne grabbed Rose by the arm and said, "Let's go. The one good thing about being here early is that maybe we'll actually get a good compartment." The pair hugged their respective parents goodbye, then hurried to climb aboard the train. Just as they were about to climb up, they heard a voice behind them.

"Wait up!" They turned around to see their cousin Albus hurrying towards them. Rose smiled at the sight of her cousin and other best friend. "You aren't about to leave me behind now were you?"

"Well, we were hoping to _finally_ get a compartment away from you, but I guess now we're going to have to accommodate you," Rose teased. The trio got onboard the train and found a compartment near the front.

"So how was your time with the Muggles?" Albus asked as they got settled into their compartment. Rose and her family had spent the last week of the holidays with her Muggle grandparents.

Rose shrugged. "It was the same as usual. Not much to do there, and since they aren't magical, their house is pretty boring. Unless we have Grandpa Weasley around of course. He always livens things up a bit."

Roxanne, looking bored by the conversation, stood up and glanced out the window of the compartment. "What do you think about Craig Lloyd?" she asked, seeing him walk by.

"In what way?" Rose asked. Roxanne stared at her. "You're right, stupid question. What else would you be asking about?"

"Wait," Albus said, putting his hand up, "I thought you were dating Dan Hannigan?"

Roxanne sighed and sank back in her seat. "I was, but we broke up over the holidays. I don't know, the romance just wasn't fresh anymore. We still care about each other a lot, but we had been drifting apart for a while."

"Drifting apart…from the guy you had been dating four weeks?" Rose asked.

"Hey!" Roxanne said, looking offended. "It was five. See what I mean?"

"I get it," Albus said. "By your standard, that's practically marriage." Albus just managed to dodge a Chocolate Frog Roxanne sent in his direction. "Seriously though, I think you're going to run out of guys to date eventually."

"Well, it doesn't help that half the guys at this school are related to me," Roxanne said. "But you're right. There's only so many guys left at Hogwarts. Maybe I need to get myself a nice Beauxbatons boy. Either that, or start dating Scorpius Malfoy."

Rose blushed a deep shade of red. She pretended to reach for something in her trunk, hoping that neither of her cousins saw her reaction to the possibility of dating Scorpius. As she was looking in the trunk, she heard the compartment door open, and looked up to see three new people come in and join them: Lorcan Scamander, his twin brother Lysander, and Rachel Finch-Fletchley. Rose noticed Albus scurry to make room for Rachel to sit next to him.

"Hey everyone," Rachel asked, looking oblivious to the special attention which Albus was paying her. "How was your holidays?"

Soon the group was immersed in a discussion of the holidays, talking about all the various foods and comparing their various gifts. After a few minutes, they heard the compartment door open again, and Chuck Sanderson walked in.

"Oh hey, are you guys full?" Chuck asked. "I can go find another compartment if there's not enough room in here."

"Don't be silly!" Roxanne said, hopping out of the seat beside Rose and going across to sit next to the extremely shy and suddenly blushing Lorcan. "We can always make room for you." Rose noted that the seat she made just happened to be next to her. It had been nearly a year since Rose had broken up with Chuck, but Roxanne continued to entertain fantasies that the two of them would get back together. Of course, Rose couldn't tell her the real reason why she knew they wouldn't get back together.

"Hi Rose," Chuck said as he sat down next to her, a little too close for her comfort. It was a cliché, but Rose still really wanted to be friends with Chuck. She did still care about him deeply. The problem was, she knew that he wanted more from her.

"Hi Chuck," Rose said in return. "Oh and happy birthday! I hope you had a good one."

"Oh, it was alright," Chuck said. "I ended up going to London for the Boxing Day sales, so that was fun. Plus it's great to be able to perform magic outside school." As if to demonstrate the point, he drew out his wand, pointed it at Albus, who was climbing out of his seat, and said "_Everte_ _Statum._" Albus tumbled back into his seat. He started to get his wand, but Chuck raised his hand.

"Now now Albus, with all these prefects in the car, I don't want to see you performing any underage magic." Everyone in the compartment roared with laughter. The laughter was soon interrupted by the sound of the door once again opening. Scorpius Malfoy's head peeked in, and Rose's heart started doing acrobatics.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"

"That you were interrupting our conversation?" Albus said with a snarl. "You're not welcome here."

"As if I'd want to be in a compartment with a pile of Weasleys," Scorpius sneered. He started to back out of the compartment, but before he did he looked in Rose's direction. He didn't dare say anything or even wink, but it was enough. Rose knew it was no accident that he had stumbled into their cart. She looked at her cousins and friends glaring at Scorpius as he left. It was going to be an interesting semester.

* * *

Harry walked into his office to see his godson sitting behind his desk.

"Must be nice being the boss," Teddy said. "Getting to stroll in whenever you feel like it, no consequences, no discipline, make your own hours."

"Give me a break, Teddy" Harry said, "I was taking the kids to get on the Hogwarts Express."

"Hey, you know I'm just giving you a hard time. No one in this office works harder, or more often than you."

"I just do my fair share," Harry said.

"Some might say that defeating the most dangerous Dark Lord in history would count as your fair share," Teddy suggested.

Harry brushed him off. "Any updates on Hayden?" he asked.

Teddy looked at him for a moment, then reached for a paper on Harry's desk. "It's probably nothing," he said, "but an owl came in this morning from Terry Boot over at the _Prophet_. Apparently, one of his photographers hasn't been showing up for work, a Dennis Creevey. He doesn't want to make anything public, but he was hoping someone in the office could do a few quick checks on him."

"And you think this might be connected to Hayden?" Harry asked.

"There's no proof of that," Teddy said. "It's just a feeling I'm having. I looked up his information, and he's not a particularly controversial photographer. He just works in their features section. He doesn't seem to have any enemies, at least not that anyone at the _Prophet _is aware of. And…"

"He's a Muggle-Born," Harry finished.

"Yeah. Do you want to send someone out to check on this, look at his place and interview Boot?"

Harry considered this. "No. We should check up on this one ourselves. You're right, it's probably nothing. But if it's something, I want to stay in front of who hears about this."

Nearly an hour later, Teddy and Harry stood in Dennis Creevey's apartment, talking to Creevey's boss Terry Boot.

"So when did you last see Dennis?" Harry asked.

"It was right before Christmas," Terry said. He had come in to turn in some photographs he had taken at the Hogwarts Yule Ball, and to get his next assignment."

"Which was…?" Teddy asked.

"He was just supposed to hang around Diagon Alley on Boxing Day, get a few good shots of some happy shoppers."

"So he hasn't been on any assignments lately which might have gotten him into any hot water with anyone?" Harry asked.

Terry laughed. "Dangerous? Dennis? Harry, he was just a Lifestyles photographer. Strictly social events and fluff pieces. I can't think of anything he's covered that would have led to kidnapping or anything of the sort." Harry and Teddy sat in silence a moment, considering this. "Do you guys have any more questions for me?" Terry asked. "I really need to get back to _The Prophet_ office."

Harry waved him off. "No, no you can get going. We'll contact you by owl if we have anything further, or if we find out anything." With this, Terry left the apartment. Harry could hear the cracking noise that accompanied apparition just after the door was closed.

"So what are you thinking?" asked Teddy.

Harry considered the question. "It's probably a simple disappearance. Dennis didn't seem to have many roots here, so he could've just up and left. There's no sign of struggle in the apartment, and there doesn't look like there's anything missing. But on the other hand… My gut says there is something wrong about this. Keep the case open, but don't go spreading the word around. For now, let's keep it between the two of us."


End file.
